P RO FIL E |
BOB GILBERT
good chemistry A lasting legacy from the 53-year marriage of Sylvia and Tom Tencza, M.S. ’64/Ph.D. ’66.
A
s a biochemist, the late Tom Tencza, M.S. ’64/
chemistry) and was told: “When I go steady, I mean that
Ph.D ’66 left a lasting mark by helping to
marriage is my end point.”
create products such as Excedrin, Bufferin
Tencza’s integrity translated to his work life as well.
and NoDoz when he was senior director of
In his first job, as a young researcher, he refused to falsify
product development at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Now, he and his widow, Sylvia, will leave anoth-
even when his superiors ordered him to do so, says his
er enduring legacy: a seven-figure commitment to the
wife of 53 years. “He was a man of principle, part of his
University that, upon her passing, will become the first
deep Catholic faith,” she says, “and shortly after, he quit
endowed chair for the chemistry department from which
that company.” The company no longer exists.
he graduated a half-century ago. Behind that commitment lies the story of a son of
Tencza, who died in 2012 at the age of 80, was known at Bristol-Myers as a man who “led by example,” accord-
working-class Polish immigrants who “had a deep love
ing to Ara Nersesian, who was in charge of toiletries
for Seton Hall,” says Sylvia Tencza. “He used to say, ‘What
development at the company and worked with Tencza
I am today is because of Seton Hall.’”
for close to 40 years. “Tom took care of his staff and was
Sitting in her kitchen serving coffee and sweets to a
very encouraging,” says Nersesian. “He was a great scien-
visitor, Sylvia talked of “a classy gentleman” whom she
tist and empowered his people to develop new products.”
met through a cousin. The introduction came after Tencza
18
numbers on certain biochemical compounds he assayed,
Tencza, who was proud of the Polish heritage he and
returned in 1956 from Army duty in Japan, where he
Sylvia shared, was the first person in his family to earn
taught meteorology to Japanese nationals. A few months
a college degree. His pride in all things Polish motivated
later she was wearing his class ring (from Columbia
him to serve as a longtime member of the Chopin Singing
University, where he got a bachelor’s degree in organic
Society, a 100-year-old choir that sings English and ethnic